specialreport
BY PETER BRADLEY, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
fending
off snack
attacks
Utz Quality Foods wanted a way to
assure there was nothing in its bags of
snack foods but the product itself. With
its new automated system and in-line
X-ray, it now has visual proof.
TO SOME, THE NAME UTZ IS SYNONYMOUS WITH
potato chips. But serious snack food fans know better. As
they can tell you, the Hanover, Pa.-based company also
makes pretzels, cheese curls, cheese balls, popcorn, tortilla
chips, and party mix—essentially everything needed for an
afternoon of watching football but the TV.
Since its founding in 1921, Utz Quality Foods has grown
to become one of the largest privately held snack companies
in the United States, serving markets along the East Coast
from Maine into the Carolinas. It distributes its products
through a network of regional DCs—both company-owned and leased facilities—extending across 15 states. In
addition to the regional DCs, Utz operates what it calls its
“World Distribution Center,” a facility located adjacent to
one of the company’s four manufacturing plants in
Hanover. From there, orders are shipped daily to the distribution network using Utz’s private fleet and outside trucking firms, says Jeff Fuhrman, the company’s vice president
of engineering. A separate warehouse for bulk distribution
serves its big box and warehouse club customers.
Given the high volume of products it ships out to major
companies, Utz was becoming increasingly concerned
about ensuring the integrity of every bag of snacks. “Food
safety became an issue for us,” says Fuhrman. In particular,
Utz wanted to find a way to assure that as products passed
through manufacturing to the consumer, they were free of
foreign contamination.
When it came to its requirements for the system, the company set the bar pretty high. Essentially, what it wanted was
an ultra-reliable method of inspecting high volumes of product without creating unnecessary delays. Eventually, it found
the solution it sought. Working in collaboration with Hytrol
Conveyor Co. and its material handling systems integrator
Wepco Inc., the company came up with an innovative blend
of X-ray technology and automated material handling equipment that has both enhanced the safety of its products and
boosted the operation’s productivity.
High-tech inspections
The centerpiece of the new system, which went into operation at Utz’s Kindig Lane manufacturing and central distribution facility this summer, is a conveyor system that
